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Recently, we asked Matthew to give us a little information about himself. Here's what he shared:

ITDC: Give us a brief introduction to you.

Matthew: I'm an independent software and data science consultant with over 16 years of professional experience building large-scale data-driven desktop, server, and cloud-based applications. I have double-degrees in Computer Science and Philosophy with a minor in Economics and a focus on Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning. In addition, I'm an international public speaker, an author for Pluralsight,a Microsoft MVP, and an ASPInsider. I've also worked on some pretty cool open-source software projects over the years.

ITDC: Describe the sessions you are presenting and why you feel the topic is important.

Matthew: I'm presenting three talks at the conference this year:

Clean Architecture: Patterns, Practices, and Principles, discusses how to keep your software architecture simple, understandable, testable, and easy to maintain by incorporating a variety of modern architectural practices like domain-centric design, CQRS, and microservices.

Why Agile: The Economics, Psychology, and Science of Agile's Success explains why Agile practices like Scrum, XP, and TDD are so effective by providing insight from research in economics, psychology, and various fields of science.

Developing Immersive Applications with HoloLens walks through how to build a simple application using Unity3D and the Microsoft HoloLens. In addition, I provide insight from my own experience using HoloLens to build an open-source immersive 3D data visualization tool.

ITDC: What should attendees expect to be able to take away from your sessions?

Matthew: With Clean Architecture, attendees should expect to have a better understanding of the most important changes in architectural thinking that are currently happening in our industry. You'll also see real-world examples of how I've implemented these practices in multiple projects over the past few years.

With Why Agile, you'll leave the talk with an understanding of why these Agile practices have been so effective in our industry, so you can use this knowledge to think and respond to new problems that arise in a truly Agile way.

With my HoloLens talk, you'll walk away knowing how to build your first HoloLens application. In addition, you'll know what tools you'll need, what the code looks like, and what the development experience is like for the HoloLens.

ITDC: What is your primary reason to be excited about IT/Dev Connections?

Matthew: I'm very excited to be an active part of such a great community. I love to teach other developers and IT professionals. I also enjoy meeting and sharing ideas with like-minded individuals in the developer community. In addition, I love getting the opportunity to learn from some of the biggest names in the software industry.

ITDC: What is the one key technology you believe is changing the technology industry right now?

Matthew: Right now, I see the combination of IoT, Big Data, and machine learning having the biggest impact on the fundamental structure of our society and economy. We're rapidly entering an age where our environment and infrastructure is intelligent and requires no human intervention to function efficiently. Experts are referring the synthesis of these three key technologies as Cyber-Physical System. These systems are changing our industry as we speak and will continue to change the world around us in ways we can hardly imagine yet within our lifetime.

Oh... and both virtual reality and augmented reality. Those two technologies are game changers right now as well.

Matthew: My favorite non-technical hobby right now (and I realize how nerdy this might sound) is mindfulness practices like yoga and meditation. I got into mindfulness practices (from a completely scientific standpoint) to help manage stress as a software consultant, entrepreneur, and public speaker. However, it has worked so well for me that I now meditate every morning and do several hours of yoga each week.

What really irks me, however, is all of the pseudo-scientific and new-age nonsense that is associated with mindfulness practices. It has given these practices an unfavorable reputation in western society, despite significant scientific evidence from reputable sources to support the mental health benefits of these practices. It makes it really hard to have a discussion about mindfulness practices with rational and highly-educated individuals when there's so much new-age nonsense and quantum flap-doodle associated with these practices.

IT/Dev Connections runs from October 10 – October 13, at the ARIA Resort in Las Vegas. IT/Dev Connections has been designed specifically for IT, DevOps, and Developers. You can read all about what IT/Dev Connections offers you HERE.

And, there's still time to register! Here's some important resources to check out: